1835.] Naning in the Malay Peninsula. 317 



I have observed many instances of longevity in the interior ; seven- 

 ty or eighty years is an age by no means rare. An instance of 1 '20 

 years, has been related to me, on respectable authority, occurring in the 

 person of Dattu Puan, a native of Lubo Koppong, in Naning, who 

 died some years ago at Sungi Baru. This truly patriarchal old man 

 lived to see his descendants in the fifth generation. 



Produce of 1833-4. — The last rice crops were not so abundant as 

 expected, owing to a bad season, and the employment of the newly 

 returned inhabitants in rebuilding their houses, repairing the Ampan- 

 gans, or dams thrown across the rivers, for purposes of irrigation. The 

 total produce of paddy amounted to 137,985 gantams. The tenth 

 levied on this, and the other articles of produce, covered the expences 

 of the district of Naning with a small overplus. The face of the 

 country now presents every where the prospect of a plentiful harvest. 



The Malacca lands, ceded during Mr. Fullarton's administration, 

 by the Dutch proprietors to the British Government, in 1828, have 

 however by no means repaid the expence of holding them, being a 

 heavy annual loss to the Company. This I think is principally to be 

 attributed to the extravagant compensation sums paid yearly, for the 

 tenure right to the proprietors. Other causes operating indirectly 

 on the revenue, to account for a small portion of this deficiency, exist ; 

 for instance, the Sirih farm. 



Collection of the Revenue. — The tenth* on the rice crops is levied 

 in Naning much in the same manner as in the ceded lands, just men- 

 tioned, in the vicinity of Malacca. 



When the grain is ripe, a person on the part of Government visits 

 the rice-fields, attended by the owner, the Panghulu, or Mata Matas of 

 the village, and several of the oldest inhabitants on the spot, in 

 order to agree on and assess its value. Regarding this point, a differ- 

 ence of opinion is naturally to be expected to arise between the taxer 

 and the taxed. This is generally submitted to the arbitration of the 

 Panghtilti and the village elders. But should these persons again 

 assess the crop at a lower value than the collector's agent really 

 thinks it worth, the latter has still the resource of offering to purchase 

 the whole of the crop on the part of Government at the price the 



* The sovereign's right to the tenth has been from time immemorial acknow- 

 ledged in Malayan states. This custom is very ancient, and appears to have pre- 

 vailed over a great portion of the known world, and among nations of a very dif- 

 ferent character and religion ; for instance, the Jews, the Gauls, the Chaldeans, 

 the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans. It was originally offered to the gods, 

 and their priests ; and then to sovereigns, who not frequently united the sacer- 

 dotal functions with their temporal powers. 



